What’s my favorite turquoise mine? Royston. Why? I’m a sucker for its “not normally seen” colors and matrices. But truly the Royston is nothing if it isn't in the hands of a talented artist. It’s like asking what’s my favorite paint or wood. Without the painter or carver, it’s just raw material. Artists bring out the beauty in the material by having the imagination to see the piece and the skill to make it real. Aaron Toadlena’s work with Royston turquoise is nearly unmatched. I’ve seen few do work with that stuff as well as he does. There isn’t a Toadlena piece that I have seen that I didn’t fall in love with.

I’m going to spare you all of the art talk on this one. Why? It has all of the elements our brains crave when we look at art. Most of it revolves around pattern recognition or breaking patterns and this does both extremely well. What’s important here, though, is the attention to detail and the amount of work in the piece. The stamping is at different levels -- deep stamped and shallow. The bezel is meticulously cut with what amounts to hours of work to realize what frames a gorgeously picked and polished gem. I count three different types of hogans (the star-shaped pieces). Every single one of these notches has to be cut by hand with a saw. I get tired just thinking about it.

I can go on about the piece and its beauty, but I’d prefer that you look at the pictures. It’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s a lot of work done by one of the great artists of the medium.